


Especially You

by MellytheHun



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Claustrophobia, Derek and Stiles Being Idiots, Fights, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Protective Derek, Protective Stiles, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:03:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3839809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellytheHun/pseuds/MellytheHun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Sterek Writers Network prompt "stuck in an elevator after an argument."</p>
<p>“Is now a bad time to mention I’m claustrophobic?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Especially You

Being on the twentieth floor, they’ve got a long way down and Derek doesn’t seem in the mood for helping. He’s glaring at the slightly dented elevator door, his big arms crossed over his swollen chest, his silhouette a frustratingly perfect shape. 

Stiles scowls at his handsome profile.

“Really? Seriously? You’re not gonna say _anything_?”  


“Nope.”  


Stiles’ heart rate jumps and his hands flex in anxious frustration. 

“You are such an asshole,” Stiles breathes out disbelievingly.  


“So you’ve mentioned,” Derek snarks.  


Stiles takes brief notice of the grind of aged metals in the lift and mistakes them for the gritting of his own teeth.

“You can’t keep mart -”  


“Martyring myself,” Derek interjects with aggravation, “Yeah, I heard you and the twenty different ways you reminded me that I can’t do anything right.”  


“Okay, that’s so _not_ what I said,” Stiles starts, “But that’s all you hear, isn’t it? You’re just gonna wallow in self pity like a -”

“Self pity?” Derek laughs darkly, “Sure, Stiles. I’m out there putting my ass on the line so I can wallow in _self pity_ later when you decide I’ve either gotten myself too involved or I’m not involved enough. That’s it.”  


Stiles rolls his eyes and misses the on-and-off flickering of the button lights.

“Oh my God, get _off_ the pity-potty, Derek, you’re a -”  


“No, you’re a dick,” Derek argues, finally turning to face Stiles, “You’re the asshole here because you can never decide what you actually want from me.”  


“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stiles asks, crossing his arms to mimic Derek.  


“You want me to help Scott, you want me to stay in Beacon Hills, you want me to be part of Scott’s Pack - _until_ it’s inconvenient -”   


“That is so unfair!” Stiles snaps as they descend to the fourteenth floor.  


“Then it’s all about how I’m too involved, I’m risking too much -”

“Constantly risking your life _is_ too much!”  


“Not for you,” Derek bites.  


Stiles’ mouth is hanging open and his heart is pounding when they hear a loud crack, all the lights flicker out and the elevator shifts and tilts violently. Derek falls toward Stiles, his arms coming to frame him against the far wall that’s now more like the floor. 

Derek’s eyes glow in the dense darkness, lighting up Stiles’ pale face.

“Is now a bad time to mention I’m claustrophobic?”  


Derek rolls his eyes, “Why did you follow me into the elevator then?”

“You walked out in the middle of me yelling at you! I couldn’t just let you have the last non-word!” Stiles says, gesticulating with shaky hands, “Plus, we were on the twentieth floor! I wasn’t going to take the stairs! I love myself!”  


The elevator makes another ominous pop and groan, then tilts further on its side, forcing a quick, high-pitched noise out of Stiles. Derek moves his face in close to Stiles’ so that they’re breathing the same warm air and then mutters,

“Listen to me. One of the cables holding this thing up is broken. I’m going to break through the top and grab your hand to haul you up. I can climb the wall to the next floor up.”

When Derek goes to move away, Stiles grips at Derek’s arms and barely utters a nervous, shy, “Wait!”

Derek hesitates, looking stiff, but then his shoulders relax minutely and his eyes get a little soft.

“Don’t worry, Stiles. I won’t let you fall.”

Stiles looks into Derek’s incandescent eyes for a long few beats before believing that. Before deciding he’s always believed that.

He nods and Derek gives him a small smile.

The elevator gives more nerve-wracking groans and grinds as Derek essentially punches his way through the ceiling of it. When he is completely outside the top of the elevator, he reaches back in for Stiles with a broad, extended hand. Stiles grabs hold and Derek pulls him up in a single, swift tug. 

The lift gives a disagreeable moan under their combined weight and the broken cables splinter and thread. Derek grabs onto a ledge on the wall and with one of his strong arms, curls Stiles up against his side. While Derek is climbing up the wall, Stiles’ legs curled around his waist and arms tight around his torso, they both watch the cables snap and the body of the elevator plummet to the first floor.  


In the ensuing silence of the shaft, while Derek supports Stiles’ weight and Stiles keeps his eyes anywhere but from looking down, Stiles mumbles,

“I’m sorry.”  


Derek makes a confused sort of half-grunt and Stiles explains,

“You’re right. I’ve been sending you mixed signals. I… I just get scared every time you’re in danger like that…”  


His chin is propped up on Derek’s shoulder so he has a perfect view of the smile that reluctantly works it’s way onto Derek’s lips.

“I get scared for you too.”  


Stiles feels his cheeks get hot and curls his head more into Derek’s arm to hide the spreading blush on his face and neck.

“I’m sorry too,” Derek adds.  


Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but he still doesn’t look up to Derek.

“I only do that to protect you.”  


Stiles does look up at that and he smirks when Derek amends,

“And the Pack. You as in – the ‘royal’ you, as in - “  


“The Pack, yeah,” Stiles says, muffling his grin in Derek’s cotton tee, “Totally. You do that to protect all of us. Including me.”  


Derek nods, “Yeah,” he says gruffly, “Including you.”

Stiles nods and looks up to see how far they are from the ledge of the above floor. He sees the light of the opening coming up and hears Derek mutter,

“Especially you.”


End file.
